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    Caligula

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    mileslegionis
    Caligula began his reign as a generous and kind emperor but soon descended into madness, demanding divine honors, mistreating senators, and wasting vast sums of money. His unpredictable and erratic behavior led the Praetorian Guard to assassinate him just four years into his rule, marking a swift decline from hero to zero.

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    Caligula

    Uploaded by

    mileslegionis
    236 views13 pages
    Caligula began his reign as a generous and kind emperor but soon descended into madness, demanding divine honors, mistreating senators, and wasting vast sums of money. His unpredictable and erratic behavior led the Praetorian Guard to assassinate him just four years into his rule, marking a swift decline from hero to zero.

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    Caligula began his reign as a generous and kind emperor but soon descended into madness, demanding divine honors, mistreating senators, and wasting vast sums of money. His unpredictable and erratic behavior led the Praetorian Guard to assassinate him just four years into his rule, marking a swift decline from hero to zero.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    236 views13 pages

    Caligula

    Uploaded by

    mileslegionis
    Caligula began his reign as a generous and kind emperor but soon descended into madness, demanding divine honors, mistreating senators, and wasting vast sums of money. His unpredictable and erratic behavior led the Praetorian Guard to assassinate him just four years into his rule, marking a swift decline from hero to zero.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 13

    Caligula

    Murder Was the Case . . . From Hero to


    Zero in Four Short Years
    What We Know About His
    Reign
     Tacitus’ account of
    Caligula’s rule is missing

     Historian Suetonius has an


    account

     Writers agree that his


    downfall was caused by
    insanity
    Early Years

     Born on 31st of August in AD 12

     Nicknamed Caligula = “little boot”

     Soldier’s footware = caliga

     Spent time on military campaigns

     Soldiers are calmed by the sight of him after


    Augustus dies
    Family Ties

     Nephew of Tiberius

     His father was Germanicus (Augustus’ adopted grandson),


    who died of mysterious circumstances in AD 9

     Mother was Agrippina (Augustus’ granddaughter)


     Exiled on an island by Tiberius and died of starvation

     His brothers Nero and Drusus were killed at Tiberius’ order


    (starvation/suicide/poison…?)
    Ascent to Power

     Joined Tiberius on Capri in AD 31

     Tiberius dies in AD 37

     Gaius becomes emperor


     Orders the bones of his mother and brothers back
    to the Mausoleum of Augustus
    Kind and Generous

     Recalls those exiled from  Drove perverts from the


    Rome city

     Dismissal of criminal  Honored Tiberius’ will


    charges

     Cash bonus to Praetorian  Fantastic spectacles for


    Guard (1st time) entertainment

     Reimbursed those  People were happy . . . At


    overcharged by tax system first
    Madness Follows

     Caligula begins to behave as though he is insane

     Demands divine honors for himself and Druscilla

     Roman troops ordered to collect sea-shells

     Wants a statue of himself in the temple at Jerusalem


    More Madness

     Treats Druscilla as if she is his wife (favorite sister)

     Made senators run for miles alongside his chariot


     Resentment: they were not used to an emperor in Rome anymore

     Spent 27 million gold pieces

     Britain invaded? (Julius Caesar had invaded 90 years before,


    but left) Seashells?
    Even more…

     Ordered a pontoon bridge built across a Bay at


    Baiae and rode his favorite horse across it, wearing
    the breastplate of Alexander the Great.
     Like Xerxes crossing the Hellespont
     He couldn’t swim
     A soothsayer of Tiberius had said that Caligula had as
    much chance of being emperor as swimming across that
    bay.
    Planned to make his horse a
    consul
    Brought an obelisk back from Egypt
    Assassination

     Praetorian Guard decides


    to kill Caligula

     24 January AD 41 he is
    killed along with his wife
    and daughter

     Claudius found behind a


    curtain and is proclaimed
    emperor by the Praetorian
    Guard
    Conclusion

     The fact that Caligula was murdered


    underscores the fact that this was a full-
    blown monarchy

     Giving up your power = death

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